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The big walkabout

It’s official: Stephanie and I have decided to embark on a yearlong journey around this big planet of ours. Crazy, I know. Where do I even start to describe the thoughts I have about all that is to come? This blog!

Welcome to My Whirled View. This is ostensibly a travelogue, but I hope this space evolves as a reflection of my own character as I stumble, trudge, and fly through this epic adventure we call life. Thanks for coming along. I’ve got a ton of cool stuff to show you. Make sure you hit the “follow” button below to keep up with the latest posts.

Lao Tzu said the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. He must have been way ahead of his time since he was apparently using the Imperial measurement system 2400 years before England. In our case, the journey starts with 2 flights and 17 hours of traveling to Chile.

Currently, our itinerary looks something like this: South America > Eastern Africa > India > Southeast Asia > Australia. Check out the map above for a better picture of what we’re imagining. We’re leaving in mid-March, and expect to return in the spring of 2017. A lot can change over the course of a year. Wildebeest migrations, Himalayan snowpack, monsoons, and the cost international flights operate on their own schedules, so we’ll do our best to work around them.

Lao Tzu also said when I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. I don’t know if that’s relevant now, but foreshadowing always makes more sense when the story is over.

So… um… how exactly are we pulling this off?

This is the question we get the most. From ourselves. The short answer is that we’re quitting our jobs, selling off what we can, packing most of our stuff in storage, and taking the rest on our shoulders. The long answer will be the subject of future posts.

It’s not easy. Most people who do trips of this scope are in their gap year after school, retired, or going through a major life transition. We don’t fit into the first two categories, and the life transition is of our own design. To us, now just seems like the best chance to do it before life makes it harder. We don’t have kids, a mortgage, or a micropignamed Snowball that I dress in a tiny suit. Our dreams are essentially on hold until we do it, so why not now?

What about our jobs?

My job is to be a decent person and leave the world a better place than I found it. Employment is but one of many mechanisms to facilitate that goal. This trip offers us a life-altering opportunity to reset our career paths and explore new ways to trade our time for compensation. That might mean a week of manual labor on aWWOOFfarm. Oh, you’ve got a scenic ranch and an extra bed? Sure, I’ll help you dig an irrigation trench. I’ve long dreamed of work-for-rent travel – what better way to experience life in a far-off land?

I’m fortunate to have a portable skill set. If you’ve got freelance work requiring little more than a laptop and an internet connection, send it my way. Last year in Mexico I wrote some social media posts forBombay Sapphire, which essentially paid for a week chilling on the beach of Mazunte. Ain’t modern technology grand?

All in a day’s work.

Are we worried about Zika virus?

No more than all the other tropical diseases out there. We’ve been vaccinated for what we can, and will take necessary precautions for those we can’t. Zika is primarily a concern for women and babies during pregnancy, so we’re not too worried about it. Also, it’s working its way North, so America will start seeing it soon anyway. Crazy. Still, I wasn’t stoked to see the map of its spread; look familiar?

Is this a contingency plan in case a terrible candidate is elected President?

Ask again in November. For all its faults, America is pretty wonderful. No one person can ruin that, no matter how powerful he or she is. In fact, when the bad guys are running things it’s even more important for the good guys to step up and take the power back. It’s a big world. We’re open minded about where we settle at the end of the trip.

Won’t you miss everyone?

Of course we will. But a lot has changed in the 500 years since Magellan’s crew circumnavigated the globe. Skype, Google Voice, SIM cards, Facebook, Instagram and this blog should keep us pretty well connected.

In fact, you can play a part in the adventure. Please send us any tips and recommendations you have from your world travels. I’ll send you back a picture or a postcard in return.

So stay tuned. The next year will be a bit of a whirlwind. I hope you come along for the journey.